The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-10-16
THE DEXTER BANK MURDER.
THE "W0RLD's" BOAsTED DETECTIYH
WORK PROVED TO BE WORSE
THAN RUNCOMRR


WORK PROVED TO M WORSE
THAN .RUNCOM1E
Il Not Only Dia Net Fepret Out Yssns
stat. snd Feint Ont fhe Aiiesea Crimi-
AL. sSs p S..'s ~ ~. 49,
Cenfessseu n Ressesss~p Of The sAsviG
Ls.g Before The Wsrsa" Meara Of It
The !" wsria's" I.sssprnte vsrsis. Of
It duplicates Men rrevsa 70 he Iane-
eeat--The Arrests Prectsitetca ~ Pulit-
per'a Threat orFrsnatVre Publication.
DEXTER, Me-, Oct. i5.-several months ago
Deputy Sheriff ]. H. Mitchell. In charge Of the
jail at Norridgewock. gained information which
promised to lead to solution Of the great
Dexter Bank mystery and to the punishment
Of all concerned In the orime. He began an in
yestigation which would probably have been
successful had It not been for the Interference
of a representative OF the New York World,
who few days ago published In his paper q
long story. two.thirds Of which was false. and
the effeot OF which has been to destroy the
value as evidence OF what little truth 1t con-
tanned. Whether the result will be an entire
miscarriage Of Justice 1t ia too early to say.
| Mr.. Mitchell hopes not, for no has considerable
evidence OF which others have no knowl-
edge. and which may be strong enough
OF itself to convict the really guilty
| persons. The Worlds story OF the crime
| was based upon statements which purported
! to come from one Charles =. Stain. Several
! columns OF closely detailed descriptions Of the
visit OF gang Of robbers>to the town, the
| crime itself. and the escape we're put in young
| Stains mouth. 1t was set forth that the per-
| sons concerned In the crime were seven in
number-young Stain and his father, Crom-
we'll, Scott. Andrews. Thompson. and Kelly.
| Young STAINS part in the affair was said to
| have been caring for the team and driving tho
rest Of the gang many miles away on the night
Of tho murder He was quoted In minute de-
| tail as to his own movements and that OF the
| this story could not be made in O day.
and the inquiry begun on Thursday BY
the correspondent OF The SUN Is not yet
finished. This much has, however, been
learned, with unquestionable proof back Of It.
At the time young Stain Is quoted as taking
| part In the great robbery on Feb. az. 1878, he
was locked up In jail In Auburn, and he did
| not obtain his liberty until three years later.
| The man Andrews was under arrest for debt
| in Dexter on the day named. Thompson and
Kely that evening were at public supper in
Dover. many miles from Dexter. Four of the
seven arc thus clearly proved innocent.
Deputy Sheriff Mitchell speaks with great
deal of indignation about the course adopted
the case we'll In hand when young Stain. who
is Eighty and unreliable. began to talk with
outsiders about his secret He tried to sell his
| information to one or two newspaper men in
| Maine, and finally, about three weeks ago, he
told little OF his story to Lawyer A. NJ. God
dard Of Augusta. Goddard sent for the World
| correspondent, who was sponding vacation
in Portland. The World man got hold Of young
Stain and induced him to 60 to New York. Mr..
Mitchell says he Is confident Stair never made
the statement In New York wh,tssxhH Erd
printed. and great part Oh shtcs EsSS ac. The
young man wasswell supplied wiz htiaof In
that city. Mr.. Mitchell learns. and While u,edec
its influence q story was drawn from him.
Such details as Stain could not furnish Mr..
Mitchelllcredits to the unrestrained imagination
Of the young men Of tho World A reporter was
then sent to Mitchell who stain sI said was at
found hImsel i forced BY threats Of prsma.
ton With The World people T PS srrsasement
Was an unfortunate one Throughout for Mr.;
s BY HI ss sn
was not forced to an immediate crisis. At
G KIM sSst piza Bost9 The fbs
the, next morning The arrangements for
cRs sehS moi nssa HRs H. ana
Mr.. Pulitzer that pub ication at that time
sPSs b. sPs ahhs d
ms nj III hnsily asstsd d;ISX i've more dsys;
Nj. %iss6s! G ss,s sSss he not only RECEIVED
mat whoe th hat papsr
I'd as.E
that. uncorroborated. it viii have no longer
sion Printed BY The Hord and the bad s record sss
OF the deponent. The statement which Stain
very y, that given by the Top
1t was prepared with great care at several in
s; H saa MsS. s sssa d
tho following copy to The SUN correspondent:
| YOUNG STAINS STATEMENT.
MY father. David L. Stain, Oliver Cromwell,
alias Smith. Billy SCOTT. and myself started
think. 1877. We took our own team and drove
TO Gardiner, We arrived In the morning, took
With the sISn bSsrdins house use On + ThsTe
taurant, right hand side, think, from VII
opposite the tentinsntsi House. We came ssO 10
skowhs,gal; | left then on Madison street,
& Rel snf sad stayed t. si' 1S5
days and a half; They came to Bng-
ham about II O'Clock In the forenoon.
We al took dinner there. Then We started
for Gardiner. We baited our horse at Water:
| yille,, opposite the Continental House. and
bought crackers and cheese for our unchson-
| bought them In Skowhegan. We had light,
| two-seated wagon. We went TO Augusta
Stopped at Farmers Hotel,a short distance
ing; took breakfast there. Father booked our
names. ! think we stayed until, about II
| O'Clock. then went to Gardiner and took the
steamer Star Of the East and went to Boston.
and they took the cars heard them talking
about the Dexter and the other two banks
nearly all OF the time we were riding along
| The names Of Barron and Curtis were men
TONED aEreat many times, but heard them
chin whiskers, as also did Scott, but Cromwell
I'VE left home lMedieldE L. Stain,
Oliver Cromwell Billy Scott. and mytelf-I
| think about the last Of November, 1857 We
had q horse named Star; bay horse with
white star In his face on forehead. We drove
| TO Boston and took the steamer Star OF tho
East and came to Gardiner We went to the
and went to KendRll's Mills, now Fairfield.